[Port Hume City Police Form 22, typed clean, retained as official record of incident. Case file: Jarzembek, Wiktor — 14 October 1923 — closed 18 October 1923.]

PORT HUME CITY POLICE — OFFICER'S REPORT (revised, from preliminary)

Officer of record: E. Reilly, Badge 411. Reviewing detective: Henry Ostermann, Det., City Police. Date of incident: 14 October 1923, 9:05 p.m. Location: St. Casimir's Polish Catholic Parish rectory, 118 Halicka Street. Nature: Death, accidental.

Summary.

Father Wiktor Jarzembek, 60 years of age, pastor of St. Casimir's for 22 years, was found deceased in the front hallway of the parish rectory at approximately 9:05 p.m. on the 14th of October, 1923, by the parish sacristan Mr. J. Kamiński. Death appears to have occurred within the hour preceding discovery. Cause of death: broken neck consistent with fall down the staircase leading to the second floor. The staircase is a straight-run of 14 steps of hardwood, unrunnered, with a polished mahogany banister on the east side and a lath-plaster wall on the west. The steps are not provided with non-skid strips.

Father Jarzembek is known to have taken, in the week previous, two falls of minor character elsewhere in the parish precincts, one reported by a parishioner (Mrs. D. Sobczak) as "Father catching himself on the churchyard gate." He had declined to consult a physician and had remarked to several that his balance was "of late not what it was."

No evidence of foul play was identified at the scene. No signs of forcible entry. The rectory side door was found ajar, consistent with Father Jarzembek's known habit of leaving the side door unlatched for late-arriving parishioners seeking confession or counsel. The house was otherwise secure.

Cofferdam interview of the sacristan Mr. Kamiński established that Father Jarzembek had been in ordinary spirits that afternoon, had conducted the 5:30 p.m. evening devotions, and had retired to the rectory for supper at approximately 6:45 p.m. Mrs. H. Vasko had delivered laundered altar linens to the rectory at approximately 7:50 p.m. and had departed, by her own statement, without entering the rectory proper. No other visitor to the rectory is known. No witness to the fall itself has been identified.

The Coroner's report of 15 October 1923 confirms cause of death as consistent with the described fall.

Recommendation: No further investigation required. Case closed.

Signed: [signed] Henry Ostermann, Detective 17 October 1923.

Countersigned: M. Royland, Chief, City Police, 18 October 1923.